Monday, January 07, 2013

Say Something Good About Detroit: John Hantz and his urban forest

John Hantz is buying up lots of abandoned lots and planting
thousands of trees.Critics see this as a entrepreneur getting land at far below its market value. Proponents see it as land littered with trash and burned out buildings being replaced by trees. If Detroit ever recovers from its malaise it won't be in this area, a few miles from my house and one of the most decimated areas of the city.

John Hantz
wants to plant at least 15,000 trees on about 140 acres. Hantz promises
to clear out all the trash and keep the grass cut, things the city
cannot afford to do now.

At a demonstration area for the
project, Mike Score of Hantz Farms shows off the progress made to
transform the vegetation. It's basically a small-scare version of what
Hantz Woodlands will look like.

"The brush is gone from alongside the road. There are still some
houses, but the vacant space that used to be covered with tall
vegetation and brush and garbage is clean," Score says.

It's cleaned up and filled with neat rows of small hardwood trees — oaks and sugar maples.
The
company is paying $300 for each lot, a price below almost anyone's idea of a fair deal.

Although some cite him as an opportunist, it is hard to drive through this area of Detroit and not be hopeful that trees are preferable to what is currently there.

Score says that while thousands of trees won't
reverse the fortunes of this hardscrabble neighborhood, he hopes it will
stabilize things.

The
project will buy 1,500 city lots. That still leaves more than 58,000
parcels the city owns but can't afford to manage. That means plenty more
opportunities for unorthodox ideas about what to do with Detroit's most
abundant resource.

7 comments:

Critics can criticize all they want, he is paying the current value and doing something neat. For $300 I should buy my own lot in Detroit and plant trees. I wonder how much tree theft they have had.

My town's elementary school is being replaced with a new building. There is currently a lot across the street used for parking and physical education. The lot will not be used anymore and I would like them to just plant a bunch of trees there. I should lobby the district Superintendent with that idea.

Detroit has high taxes considering they have very poor city services. One of its continuing problems. As the tax base declines, there is less money. Many Detroiters pay privately for snow removal and private police among other things.

Recent Reads

About Me

Patricia Abbott is the author of more than 125 stories that have appeared online, in print journals and in various anthologies. She is the author of two print novels CONCRETE ANGEL (2015) and SHOT IN DETROIT (2016)(Polis Books). CONCRETE ANGEL was nominated for an Anthony and Macavity Award in 2016. SHOT IN DETROIT was nominated for an Edgar Award and an Anthony Award in 2017. A collection of her stories I BRING SORROW AND OTHER STORIES OF TRANSGRESSION will appear in 2018.